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Displaced Congregation Stands Strong After Fire Destroyed Temple

By Amy Zimmer on October 19, 2011 7:28am

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UPPER EAST SIDE — The renovations at the synagogue Kehilath Jeshurun were supposed to have been completed by September, in time for the Jewish high holidays.

Instead a four-alarm fire tore through the building while the renovations were under way in July. Now, the building at 121 E. 85th St. will likely remain off-limits for at least a year as the 139-year-old congregation restores its sanctuary.

The Modern Orthodox congregation kicked into high gear to figure out how to accommodate more than 2,500 people during the holidays, including 600 who come to the temple's "beginner's service," which welcomes all Jews regardless if they're members of the synagogue, said Rabbi Elie Weinstock, the temple's associate rabbi.

"A lot of people worked very hard," Weinstock said. "It was great to be able to handle the logistics and stand together as a community."

KJ, as it's known on the Upper East Side, fit roughly 600 members into the Metropolitan Museum of Art's auditorium and dispersed others to the auditoriums and gymnasiums of the Middle and Upper school of Ramaz, a private school that is affiliated with the synagogue.

The temple worked with city agencies to get the necessary temporary assembly permits and worked through the complicated logistics of shuttling around prayer books and other items.

"It was complicated, but everyone rose to the occasion," said Kenneth Rochlin, director of institutional advancement at Ramaz. "People are going out of their way to help the community."

Ramaz parents have been volunteering, often coming straight from work, Rochlin said. Thousands of others have responded, including many of the school's alumni from over the years who remember the sanctuary from their graduations and other times.

The congregation was fortunate that its Torahs had already been removed from the building because of the renovation before the devastating fire struck.

"It was very painful that night," Rochlin said of the July 11 fire. He grew up around the corner from the temple and has spent 43 years as part of the congregation.

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"As Rabbi [Haskel] Lookstein has said, from this devastation will come rebuilding and we will be bigger than ever."

The restoration process will take "at least a year," Weinstock said. "We certainly want to do it as expediently as possible, but things take time. It's going to be an extended period of displacement."

For the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot, the temple built several structures at Ramaz facilities where members have been taking in their meals under the stars, either catered by the KJ or bringing their own food.

They built them on the third, sixth and penthouse levels of the Middle School, located across the street from the temple, and expanded the rooftop Sukkah usually built atop the Upper School on East 78th Street.

More than 2,700 meals were eaten in these structures between last Thursday and Saturday, Weinstock said, which was "on par, if not more" than usual.

"Our experience with the high holidays and Sukkot was very encouraging. We had more people [than usual] on the high holidays," Weinstock said. With "help from our community" and "a little help from above," he was hopeful that the congregation would be able to weather the prolonged displacement.

The temple has been holding Saturday's Shabbat services, which attract upwards of 600 people, at some of the Ramaz spaces and the 92nd Street Y.

"Many people want to be housed on 85th Street in familiar territory," he said. "We have to balance the needs of our community. Saying we're going to be in one place for the entire time might not work for all people. If you ask me where to come and pray on Dec. 10, I'd say call back."

The temple's insurance will cover the cost of restoring its building "back to the way it was the night of the fire," Rochlin said. But the building will still need to complete its renovation project.

"We're committed to restoring the synagogue to its former glory," Weinstock said.

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